#my guardian angel just tells me that the nukes are going to go off every night

[skeletorg]

guys i think my guardian angel is broken

[zrtranscripts]

Season 8, Mission 23: The Way We Were

Skin Of My Enemies

~

TOM DE LUCA: I know Janine wanted me and Five to keep a lid on things in the town, but I don't know where to start!

SAM YAO: Just... just try and calm people down. We can't have a riot on top of everything else.

TOM DE LUCA: This is hopeless, Sam! It's five days until the king of the rocks ceremony. Paula says Janine won't... that she won't last much longer. And we still haven't located the Edda. Amelia's threat to nuke the island has caused nothing but panic.

SAM YAO: I mean, you can't blame people for not wanting to be blown up, can you?

TOM DE LUCA: This behavior is making that outcome more likely. Unless that's the whole idea. We know there are nine skincoats on the island. A secret society who consider themselves the guardians of tradition. For all we know, they'd rather destroy the island than see it change. They've already tried to kill Five and Jody, and Janine's marked for death in the cave paintings you found.

SAM YAO: Paula's with her in the cottage. She's too ill to leave, but Jody's debriefing Rory. Maybe he'll turn out to know something useful. Although so far he's just going on about legends that the skincoats can see through each others' eyes, and that's how they know everything that happens on the island.

[footsteps]

MORAG BROWN: Tom. Runner Five. Can I have a word?

TOM DE LUCA: Uh, it's Morag Brown, isn't it?

MORAG BROWN: I know you don't trust anyone on this island. I understand that feeling. I don't know who to trust on this island, either. But I have something I need to share. You're outsiders. That's good. The skincoats wouldn't have you. And you helped the lad Rory. Oh, I remember him when he was a sweet wee bairn. I woke up this morning and thought to myself, if there's anyone you can trust on this cursed isle, Morag Brown, it's the Abel folk.

TOM DE LUCA: That's flattering, I suppose. But do you have any actual intel?

MORAG BROWN: You're a hardnosed whatsit, you know that?

TOM DE LUCA: It's been said.

MORAG BROWN: I know things. There's something rotten on this island. They call the skincoats the guardians of Mor, but there's other legends about them. My mum used to scare me with them when I was a lass! [imitates her mother's voice] "You behave yourself, Morag, or the skincoats'll come for you!" [using her own voice] She said they got their coats by skinning their fallen enemies.

SAM YAO: That's... so weird. I've dreamt about that. People wearing human skins. But I'd never heard the legends.

TOM DE LUCA: I've had that dream, too. Dreams where their coats were red.

MORAG BROWN: They've been in my nightmares all week. But I saw them first in the flesh about a decade ago, and I wasn't alone. Lachlan Jones saw them, too. Please, come with me out of the town into the cover of the woods, and I'll tell you everything.

~

TOM DE LUCA: All right, Morag. We're in the woods. Tell us what happened with Jones a decade ago.

MORAG BROWN: You knew him once he'd been warped forever by what had happened to him, but he didn't start out bad. He couldn't rub along with people, but he wasnae violent. Everything changed on that terrible day 10 years back. The memory’s still so vivid.

[flashback]

[door opens, bell rings]

MORAG BROWN: The bakery's not open yet.

LACHLAN JONES: It's Lachlan. Are you working?

MORAG BROWN: Just as I am at 3 PM every day. We can't all be layabouts.

LACHLAN JONES: I'm an environmentalist! We don't keep regular hours.

MORAG BROWN: You shouldn't have dropped your studies, lad. Especially after your parents...

LACHLAN JONES: I need your help, Morag. It's Laird Callum.

MORAG BROWN: Oh, Lachlan, not again. He's entitled to shoot grouse on his own land.

LACHLAN JONES: It's not that! An oil deposit's been found under Mor, and Callum wants to drill it. They're starting a test drill tomorrow.

MORAG BROWN: I know. The equipment came in on yesterday's ferry. Let me guess, it'll upset the crested [?].

LACHLAN JONES: Atlantic puffins, actually. It'll destroy the entire colony!

MORAG BROWN: So what do you need me for?

LACHLAN JONES: I've tried warning Callum an oil spill will ruin the ecosystem, but he won't listen to me! No one does.

MORAG BROWN: And why do you think that is?

LACHLAN JONES: I know, all right? I know how people see me. You're the only one who's ever given me a chance. Come with me. Look at the site, and explain the stakes to Callum! Please!

MORAG BROWN: Well, it's the king of the rocks ceremony tonight. I've 20 batches of shortbread more to finish!

LACHLAN JONES: That's another thing! The drilling will wreck the ceremonial cavern.

MORAG BROWN: Oh, that'll upset some folk.

LACHLAN JONES: Unless we stop it. Please, Morag!

MORAG BROWN: Ach, fine. But only because if I don't, you'll go on your own and you'll do something you'll regret. You're too young to ruin your life.

LACHLAN JONES: You're an angel.

MORAG BROWN: And take some bread to eat on the way. There's nothing of you, lad.

LACHLAN JONES: To the caves! Hurry!

~

LACHLAN JONES: This is the cave where they light the bonfires at the start of the parade.

MORAG BROWN: I know, lad. I'm just glad to be out of the drizzle. Oh, there's always so much rain this time of year.

LACHLAN JONES: Look, in the distance! Callum's moved the drill in already. Oh, he'll be nearby to oversee it all.

MORAG BROWN: You think he'd wait until after the ceremony. King of the rocks is no more than a bit of fun, but a whacking great tractor really spoils the mood. Oh, he could have at least hung a garland on it.

LACHLAN JONES: So you'll talk to Callum?

CALLUM REID: Talk to me about what?

MORAG BROWN: Callum Reid, good to see you.

CALLUM REID: Morag, likewise. I trust you're escorting young Mr. Jones away.

MORAG BROWN: He means no harm, Callum. It's the wildlife, you see. Lachlan wants -

CALLUM REID: I know very well what he wants, Morag. I can't open my door for all the leaflets he's pushed through it. RSPB, WWF, Greenpeace. Not to mention that little gift he left on my porch. I had to buy new shoes.

MORAG BROWN: Oh, Lachlan.

LACHLAN JONES: I was making a point about what you're doing to this habitat!

CALLUM REID: Lachlan, Mor Island needs money badly. There aren't any jobs, and young people are leaving. Ideals are all very well. God knows my brother's gone and off about wind farms. But they're not realistic. I love this island. I love its history, and it hurts to do this, but I have to. It's the last resort.

LACHLAN JONES: You think just because you inherited some title, you can go around destroying everything!

CALLUM REID: The lairdship's a burden, no privilege. An ancient tradition that's bigger than me.

LACHLAN JONES: Tradition? Ha! What about king of the rocks? That's a tradition, too. But you want to move it to Niomh. You'll regret it.

MORAG BROWN: Lachlan, stop.

CALLUM REID: Morag, take him home.

MORAG BROWN: Lachlan, we tried.

LACHLAN JONES: It's not over yet.

MORAG BROWN: Lachlan, don't go near that drill! Oh, for heaven's sake. I'm coming after you!

~

MORAG BROWN: Oh Lachlan, what have you done to the drill?

LACHLAN JONES: I didn't do this! I was just going to slash the tires! I wouldn't paint weird symbols on it. Look, that one's from the king of the rocks.

MORAG BROWN: Oh, they've been daubed on with... surely that's just paint. And the control panel's smashed to bits. Oh, poor Callum'll never get the deposit back.

LACHLAN JONES: He'll never believe I didn't do it.

MORAG BROWN: Hmm...

LACHLAN JONES: I can see from your face even you don't believe me. You're just like the rest of them!

MORAG BROWN: Calm down. Let's find Callum together and explain.

LACHLAN JONES: I'm going on my own. I don't need you. I don't need anyone!

MORAG BROWN: Lachlan, come back! Oh, he's heading for the king of the rocks cavern. Oh, Morag Brown, what have you got yourself into? Ach, better get after him.

~

MORAG BROWN: Lachlan, please don't go into the cavern. If you ruin the king of the rocks, you'll make it all worse.

LACHLAN JONES: The laird doesn't care about tradition, so why should I? I'm going to tell him someone's trying to frame me for destroying the drill.

MORAG BROWN: Well, you'll certainly have an audience. Half the island's here.

CALLUM REID: What's this about the drill?

LACHLAN JONES: Nothing. I came to tell you -

ISLANDER: He destroyed the drill.

LACHLAN JONES: That's a lie!

CALLUM REID: Has the equipment been sabotaged?

LACHLAN JONES: Yes, but I didn't do it!

CALLUM REID: You expect me to believe that after what you said to me just now? Do you have any idea how much that equipment cost, you stupid lad?

LACHLAN JONES: I'm telling you, Callum...  laird... please! It wasn't me!

ISLANDER: Aye, I saw him do it.

CALLUM REID: This is the last straw, Lachlan. You've no respect for this island or its people. Tomorrow, we'll discuss your punishment.

LACHLAN JONES: I'm the one with no respect? After what you tried to do? You know what? I'm glad someone ruined your filthy drill. I only wish they'd gone further. Smashed your face in along with it. Someone should!

[present time]

SAM YAO: Ooh. Yeah. Well, after that, you can sort of see why everyone thought he murdered Callum.

MORAG BROWN: I never believed Lachlan killed the old laird. He was doing better after he left the island, you know. He used to write to me, told me he'd met a lovely girl. He was over the moon when she said she'd wed him. But then she died, and all the good in him seemed to die with her. He stopped writing soon after.

TOM DE LUCA: You have something more to tell us, don't you, Morag?

MORAG BROWN: I do, aye. But we must keep going. The skincoats... [laughs] Lachlan warned me in one of his letters that they'd know my thoughts.

TOM DE LUCA: Jones was paranoid. How could they possibly see inside your mind?

[zombie moans]

SAM YAO: Look, I think we'd better have this discussion later. There's a zom on your tail.

MORAG BROWN: Ach! It's all crispy around the edges, like a bridie that's been left in the oven too long.

TOM DE LUCA: It must have been burned in the fire. Its eyes have burst!

SAM YAO: It's gaining on you. Run!

~

SAM YAO: Yeah, you've lost the zom. But you're way off the beaten path, literally.

MORAG BROWN: Mind your way on the rock steps, Runner Five. A few stones are loose.

SAM YAO: You're heading for uh, a tall stone tower. A bit like a windmill without any sails.

TOM DE LUCA: A grain silo.

MORAG BROWN: Don't say it. Don't even think it loud. Not if you've had the dreams.

SAM YAO: You're serious?

MORAG BROWN: I am.

[door creaks closed]

MORAG BROWN: Climb these stairs with me to the top of the grain store. This store has been here a thousand years in one form or another. It's deep and wide and I've worked with it, making bread for the people. Runner Five, open that little hatch. And Tom, bury your arm full in the grain right down.

TOM DE LUCA: There's an iron ring here. I can just touch it with my fingertips.

MORAG BROWN: There's a rope attached to that ring. Haul it up.

TOM DE LUCA: A leather bag.

MORAG BROWN: The skincoats will kill anyone who threatens the ancient rites, who wants to use the Edda to stop this madness, not make it worse.

TOM DE LUCA: Morag, you helped Jones before. He trusted you. So when he had no one else to turn to, he gave you the Edda. And this bag in my hands...

MORAG BROWN: Yes, laddie. It's the Edda you hold.

~

[thedogsled]

TFW Get a Dog (It’s not a dog, guys! It’s not a dog!!! STOP. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!)

Or: The “Didn’t Dean tell you not to put strange dogs in his car?” Meta

Okay, so in preparation for this episode I watched the entire film The Thing, read the script, and listened to the audio commentary. It was quite the freaking effort, let me tell you, because I am not a body horror person by any means. Thankfully with the commentary running it took a lot of the spooky edge off, because the director would say “Oh, this is that scene coming up, now, it’s a real jump scare”, and it was like having my own personal guardian angel watching over me, talking me through it.

All in all, I didn’t get much of a The Thing vibe out of s13x17. I mean it was there, sort of, but I feel like toward the end of the story they couldn’t get the ‘so are you a monster or not?’ to stick while also still having (barely) enough time to launch into s13x18, and leave Bucklemming with enough actual structure that they couldn’t fuck things up too badly. 

Dean and Castiel being separated by the rift was also essential to what the plot was saying about their Hallmark movie romance, paralleling the monsters in love with our monsters in love (and with our plushie dinosaur in love from S13x16). 

This, and also laying down all the Gabriel/Asmodeus/Ketch story in an insane rush (This season is even more convoluted than 12, and I didn’t think that was possible), meant that any subtle things or exploration of human nature that Perez might have - and should have - wanted to do with an homage to The Thing, was lost. It therefore lacked a great deal of suspense, with imo no clear line as to which story really was the A plot of the episode; G/A/K were essential, and Sam and Dean felt like B plot. I felt like, perhaps, there was more in the script originally for the people in the diner to do, but it all ended up cut, and while this is just supposition on my behalf, it would honestly make sense that Asmo was crammed in at a later point, given what we know.

As an aside: a) archangel grace is apparently just lying around in MOL bunkers? and b) weren’t Ketch and Asmodeus just A BILLION times better with Perez’ lines instead of BL’s? I felt they talked a bit fast, which was part of the urgency that I felt, that their scenes were being crammed in, but that suited me just fine. Incidentally I hope nobody kills Asmodeus, I hope him going cold turkey off archangel grace just nukes him from the inside out.

But back to The Thing, and back to why I feel there was originally an entirely The Thing plot to this episode. First of all: It’s perfect. The Thing is, originally, a microorganism that comes from space (I guess we could sort of claim that SPN now has tentacle aliens in it, so this must be act 2, right? Are we exploring the nature of Destiel too?) The Thing infects its host, then absorbs its cells, copies them, and becomes a copy. It is ‘a thing that looks like another thing’. Which of course is why I was instantly suspicious of the immortal woman tied to the altar.

She is our dog. Team Free Will’s dog.

But why? What do you mean she’s a dog? She’s not a dog she’s a god. Oh.

/waggles eyebrows

At the beginning of The Thing, a sled dog (an Alaskan Malamute to be specific) is fleeing from a Norweigian helicopter, racing toward an American Antartic research camp. The dog licks the researchers as it reaches them, and the pursuing helicopter crashes. The last pursuer is shot dead by the American team, concerned that they’ve lost their minds.

So here is the dog, rescued. The Americans dispatch a pair of researchers to check out the Norweigian research camp, while the others discuss it. The dog is put in the kennels with the others. And then the dog is revealed to in fact not be what it seems to be. It is The Thing, the monster, and it attacks the other dogs. I’ve linked the scene, but it’s not for the faint of heart. The point is when the dog is revealed to be the monster, its head opens up like the clutching tentacle in 13x17, and a long, lashing tentacle emerges from its mouth.

So Sandy is the dog. Sam and Dean cannot tell that she isn’t human, and they believe her story, even though I spent at least half the episode wondering why. I thought that maybe it was a lack of meta awareness for the characters, but then I realized that it was inherent to their constant struggle, seeing the humanity in things which are not human, and none of their training has prepared them for it. I’m talking about Jack, obviously.

The other thing they do with this episode is build a vault, and the associated foreshadowing involved in the descent into it. Twice in The Thing, characters descend into the set from above, and make discoveries that push the story. The first descent is into the Norweigian research station, and the second is at the end, when the characters descend into another vault and discover the saucer spaceship that the Thing has made in order to escape.

That’s it. That (and the tentacles) is about as close as an homage to The Thing as I think this episode gets. Oh, apart from the molotov cocktails which weren’t used. See, at the end of The Thing they blow the whole place to smithereens, but in our episode all the effort at prepping the cocktails is dropped. HOWEVER, as well as showing up as a possible reference back to the film, this is also a huge piece of foreshadowing, after all a Holy Fire molotov cocktail was used on Michael in Swan Song. This is such subtle foreshadowing that you could blink and miss it, just as the idea of Dean being possessed by a god from another dimension is, and just as him descending into a vault beneath the earth (but also climbing a set of stairs) before unlocking her cage is...well, you get the drift.

In addition, as Dean descends into the vault, he drops through a halo of light, and for a moment as he crouches there alone, the heavenly light shines down on him, much as I’ve highlighted in other Dean/Michael meta recently that the light from the cross (also visible behind Dean in 13x5) also shines on Michael in 13x7. 

What I found disappointing was that, despite being publicised as an episode that was based strongly on The Thing, I don’t think this one really went there. Of course, we’ve touched on the paranoia of The Thing in Supernatural before. In the episode with the Khan Worm, 6x16, And Then There Were None, we get an episode which deals with the paranoia of whether or not the people trapped with you are the monster. This - the psychological aspect of The Thing - was completely missing in our episode, which surprised me. Again, I think it was related to time issues. The Thing also influenced the X-Files episode Ice, as @justanotheridijiton has reminded us in their recent X-Files meta posts recently. It is one of the episodes of the series which haunts me, because the paranoia is handled so very well.

There was no paranoia in this episode. I expected it. I’m surprised that even though he was writing an episode that was meant to evoke The Thing, there wasn’t even any attempt to bring paranoia into it, even with the MoL at the end being suspicious that maybe Dean was a monster. There just wasn’t time. But those characters in the diner, in a former workthrough of the script, could easily have been hosts for the parasite as it jumped from body to body in order to evade the Winchesters. There was imo unused potential there, psychological drama which could have occurred between the unused diner employees and guests, which in the end barely existed to lay a couple of weak parallels.

So all in all: great Destiel parallels in this ep, huge Hallmark romance stuff that is paralleled completely across the whole episode, and of course as other people have mentioned, reminders for Dean of how Castiel was taken from him the last time they dealt with the rift with Cas beside them (seeing other people killed the way Cas was killed). It’s very raw, but it was WAY too subtle for the GA to pick up on it, just as Cas’ ‘negative space’ was, which is why even seasoned-to-disappointment Castiel viewers were disappointed. In my opinion they made up for this by immediately showing me Husband!Cas in the promo being like DEAN DID WHAT, but without that one-two punch of seeing that content straight away, you’re left all at sea. Also very subtle Michael reminders, very subtle foreshadowing--and I know that this is an unpopular or ‘too obvious’ idea to some people, but at the same time we have our heads way, way deeper into this than regular people do.

(I apologize for not using a cut, finally, because every time I do my formatting gets fucked up. For that reason, and to save people’s dashboards, there are also no images in this post.)